We bought our house in Gilbert in the late spring of 2010.
As the proud new owner of our Gilbert home and the backyard pool (my first pool), I paid the Leslie pool guy to come out and show me the ropes. He spent an hour talking through all the important considerations for keeping a beautiful, well-maintained pool.
A week later, newly armed with the knowledge of a veteran pool guy, I decided to back-flush the pool's filter. Back-flushing is done to remove the dirt and debris from the pool's filter to prevent it from becoming over-clogged.
To back-flush the pool you have to pull and turn a lever to change the direction of the water flow through the filter. It flows water in the "wrong" direction, pushing all the collected dirt and debris at a high rate of speed, out of the filter and through a large floppy 2" hose. The pool service man explained this to me with care. He showed me the sewer drainage entry point in the front yard where the hose was to release all the dirty water. He gave me a "L" shaped piece of PVC pipe and suggested I use that for the end, but I figured I would just push the hose down the pipe and it should be fine.
In order for all of this to work, the hose had to reach the drain. But it turns out the existing hose was too short going around the outside of the house. Being clever and cheap, I found a way to make my way to the front of the house and into the drain by routing it through the garage side door and out through the front of the garage, avoiding the need to go around the house corner and cutting off about 20 feet of needed hose. I pushed the end of the hose down the drain a good 18 inches and returned to the pump at the back of the house. Satisfied, I turned on the pump, and smiled as I saw the hose swell and imagined very dirty water flowing it's disgusting way down the hose, through the garage and into the drain.
Then I noticed a small bead of water streaming its way straight up
from the bulging hose just 20 feet away. I ran toward it for a closer look and was shocked to see it wasn't alone. dozens of similar holes were shooting in all directions. Now in a panic I started to run along its length toward the front of the house. As I entered the garage I was mortified to see a few extra large streams jetting in several directions, some hitting the ceiling, some hitting as-yet-unpacked boxes, some hitting me. I looked out through the garage door and saw the end of the hose like a living thing, a snake possessed, thrashing itself left and right against the ground, filthy water flowing in all directions.
I ran to the end of the hose, grabbed it Crocodile Dundee-style, dashed to the drain and tried to stick it down in, not thinking about how the water flow the forced it out of the hole was not about to change its mind.
At this moment several thoughts hit me all at once.
1. I should never have tried this alone
2. There is brown water flowing all over my moving boxes- many filled with books, my garage ceiling, and floor
3. The shut-off was almost 100 feet away
This is when I remembered to laugh. Soaked and newly schooled in the art of pool care, I ran back to the pump switch and set it to the "off" position. I ran back to the garage, and with a smile and a chuckle, ignoring the slowly ebbing flow of nasty water down the driveway, set my attention to cleaning the garage.
Yes, this would be funny later, but I might as well enjoy it now. It was all I could do.
The garage ceiling still has a brown stain.
A week later, newly armed with the knowledge of a veteran pool guy, I decided to back-flush the pool's filter. Back-flushing is done to remove the dirt and debris from the pool's filter to prevent it from becoming over-clogged.
To back-flush the pool you have to pull and turn a lever to change the direction of the water flow through the filter. It flows water in the "wrong" direction, pushing all the collected dirt and debris at a high rate of speed, out of the filter and through a large floppy 2" hose. The pool service man explained this to me with care. He showed me the sewer drainage entry point in the front yard where the hose was to release all the dirty water. He gave me a "L" shaped piece of PVC pipe and suggested I use that for the end, but I figured I would just push the hose down the pipe and it should be fine.
In order for all of this to work, the hose had to reach the drain. But it turns out the existing hose was too short going around the outside of the house. Being clever and cheap, I found a way to make my way to the front of the house and into the drain by routing it through the garage side door and out through the front of the garage, avoiding the need to go around the house corner and cutting off about 20 feet of needed hose. I pushed the end of the hose down the drain a good 18 inches and returned to the pump at the back of the house. Satisfied, I turned on the pump, and smiled as I saw the hose swell and imagined very dirty water flowing it's disgusting way down the hose, through the garage and into the drain.
Then I noticed a small bead of water streaming its way straight up
 |
| Through the garage |
I ran to the end of the hose, grabbed it Crocodile Dundee-style, dashed to the drain and tried to stick it down in, not thinking about how the water flow the forced it out of the hole was not about to change its mind.
 |
| The drain |
1. I should never have tried this alone
2. There is brown water flowing all over my moving boxes- many filled with books, my garage ceiling, and floor
3. The shut-off was almost 100 feet away
 |
| The ceiling spots |
Yes, this would be funny later, but I might as well enjoy it now. It was all I could do.
The garage ceiling still has a brown stain.
